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  “Look out!” Clare called.

  The stinger arched and jabbed at Galis. It missed him by a few feet as the sandpede realized it was about to stab itself.

  Swiping at him from the side, Galis dodged the stinger a second time by dashing up the monster’s spine to its head. The sandpede was not prepared to play that game and began to shake its head back and forth.

  Galis slashed, making it shriek. With its mouth open, he held onto its lower jaw and swung up underneath it, pushing his sword up into its soft throat. The thing bucked again and thrust its chin against the sand. Galis dodged by spinning around onto its back again. He leaped down in an arching flip, aiming with his sword at the back of the sandpede’s head. As he arched over, he thrust his sword underneath the insect shell and into its head at last.

  The sandpede lurched forward. With Clare and the star on his back, Folkvar charged, his claymore poised to strike. Clare stood up on his back and raised her sword above his head. As the sandpede’s head came down—Galis clinging to his sword as it fell—Folkvar used one stroke to sever the head. Clare leaped up and with one strong swing, also severed the stinging tail as it aimed a final blow at Galis.

  With the force of her jump, Clare was carried behind the thing and Folkvar and Galis fell to the sand in front of it. They all paused and breathed. The star gazed at Galis in pure admiration. Her large blue eyes were bluer and brighter than before.

  “That was amazing!” Clare shrieked, spinning her sword triumphantly and placing her other hand on her hip. “I had no idea I had it in me.”

  “Nor I,” Galis coughed as he tried to catch his breath.

  The drain hit her again after naming Galis. She felt sick and an image of Max flashed into her head, but she instantly dismissed it. For a second, that meaninglessness scared her, but then it too was gone.

  “That monster was sent here to ensure no one reaches the oracle,” the star said. “It is little wonder no one has made it past.”

  “Yeah,” Clare laughed. She would remember this moment forever.

  They all remounted Folkvar and were easily breathing by the time they reached a strange black monolith. The dark stone was smooth and pointed at the top. In the center was a yawning archway and a set of stairs.

  “I suppose we go in,” Clare stated. “Does this look like a place an oracle would be hidden?”

  “I have never searched for one before,” Folkvar said haltingly. “Have you?”

  “Uh, no,” Clare confessed when she saw her companion’s embarrassment. “I think this is the way.”

  The stairs led down until all sunlight was cut off. None of them had any fire or other light sources, but the star’s crown glowed as bright as the moon in the dark, twisting stairwell.

  Farther down than Clare thought she could go, it soon opened up into a cavern with dark water below. The stairs ran along the walls of the cave for several more yards before they ended on a flat rocky ground. The shore of the underground lake was narrow and led to another doorway on the left.

  Clare took the lead with the star at her side for light. The cave was dark and cool compared to the desert above. Down here, one would never know if it was day or night.

  High plinking noises kept everyone on high alert until they realized water was dripping from the ceiling. Clare and Folkvar could sense something else in the cave. A steady wind would pick up and drop away every so often in perfect rhythm as though the surrounding area was breathing.

  Once they went through the next door, ahead of them were more rocky tunnels and trickling water. To their right in the next cavern, a small set of rocks tumbled down and skittered to their feet. Something must moved them. They stared at the dark shadows hard, frozen in mid-step, weapons at the ready.

  Ahead, at last, they heard a waterfall. They saw a strange blue glow from a protruding shelf above them. It seemed the waterfall was up there too. Looking around, there was no obvious way to the ledge. Folkvar stepped back, handed Galis his claymore, and tensed his legs.

  With a burst of speed and a mighty leap, he cleared the ledge by a few inches and skidded to a stop.

  “Well done!” Clare called. “We’ll be right there.”

  “Very well,” was Folkvar’s reply. “It is a strange sight.”

  Clare went to the roughest side of the cavern near the ledge and began to climb, the star and Galis right behind her. It was not a easy and her fingers and forearms ached by the time they made it to the top. Clare helped the other two up as best she could before turning to the thing before them. It was indeed strange.

  The waterfall fell from several yards above them and landed on the ledge in front of them, but did not splash out or overflow. It simply fell through the solid stone floor. Glowing in the center was a silvery white and blue head. It was not attached to anything. Only a neck and hair, coming from respective ends, was there with it. The eyes were closed and the face was peaceful.

  “Is this the oracle?” Galis asked. There was a strange kind of fear and confusion in his voice.

  “It is,” the star said. “I know his face but…”

  “Where is the rest of it?” Folkvar asked.

  Clare stepped forward with her hand out and touched the water. In an instant, the eyes popped open and lavender irises focused on her. She cringed and withdrew her hand, gasping.

  “I am rather frightening,” the head said in a hollow, echoing voice. “But I am still who I am.”

  “Are you the oracle?” Clare asked.

  “I was not, but then I was, and now I am,” it said.

  “Then you can help us,” she said. “We need to know how to stop the great Umbra.”

  “What is the difference between stopping a train and stopping a cat?” the oracle posed.

  “Excuse me?” Clare was bemused. “You know about trains? Do they have trains here?”

  She looked back at her companions and saw their confused expressions. That was a no.

  “Who are you?” Clare asked the glowing blue head. “How do you know that stuff?”

  “How do you know about ancient China?” the oracle asked. “You were not there, were you?”

  “No, wait. Stop that!” she cried, closing her eyes to gather her thoughts. “Answer my questions, please. Honestly, if you don’t mind.”

  “I do not. I cannot lie.”

  “At all?” she asked. “You only speak truth?”

  “Always.”

  “Could be lying now,” Folkvar grumbled. “What is this thing that speaks in such confusing ways?”

  The oracle glowed a little brighter and its eyes turned white. “I am the link between worlds,” it bellowed, its echoing voice reverberated off the walls. “I am here, there, and neither present nor absent. I was there and am now here and yet I am gone.”

  “That’s a lot of yets,” Galis mused. “Can you help us or not? Umbra is corrupting our land and destroying us.”

  “Umbra is like me,” the oracle whispered. It moved its lavender eyes to Clare. “Here and there. Earthling…”

  Clare gasped.

  “Earthling?” the other two echoed in surprise. The star smiled knowingly.

  “Earthling, you have come to save your world.”

  “No,” she stammered, even more taken off guard. “My world’s fine. It’s this world I want to save.”

  “You want to save our home and not your own?” it asked. “But to cross over is to save yours. You have opened the gates. You have come too far and you know too little.” He looked her up and down. “You are fading away from your Earth. Watch your magic usage, girl.”

  “Hey, cut it out!” Clare yelled over his echoing voice.

  “Yes!” Suddenly the glow was gone from the oracle, the waterfall vanished, and the severed head plopped with a wet thunk to the stone ground. “Take me to my body and I will explain all that vexes your little earthling head, sweetheart.”

  Every mouth dropped open in surprise at the sudden change in the oracle’s speech. Even the star wrinkled her fa
ce in confusion.

  “Come on, we don’t have all day. Especially you, Claredy-cat!”

  Galis reached down and lifted the head by its white hair, holding it for everyone to see. The oracle winced and tried to shake his head, but it just swung back and forth in Galis’ hand.

  “You’re scaring me,” Clare confessed simply. “You are utterly crazy.” She turned to the star. “Are you sure this is the oracle?”

  She nodded. “I know his face. What happened to you?”

  Clare turned back to the severed head. “Where is your body? If I find it and put you back together again, will you explain my mission?”

  The oracle smiled at Clare. “It is my mission as well. But my body cannot be found. I don’t think. Forget that. You, barbarian!” It tried to swivel around to look at Galis. “Tie me to your hideous belt and let’s be out of here.”

  Clare shrugged and Galis did as requested.

  “Let us leave this place,” Folkvar said at last. “I cannot take much more of mystery and talking heads.”

  “I agree,” Clare sighed.

  The entire way up the stairs, the oracle’s head sung in very off-key notes. Sometimes it bellowed in a horrible opera voice and no matter how many times they shushed it, it always started up again.

  “Some mystical item,” Clare scoffed. “Never have I run into one like this.”

  “You’ll be worse than me some day, Clare,” it cackled. “Just wait and see. Too much here and not enough there makes you all here and none there.”

  “No thanks,” she sighed. “Is there any reason to try to figure out your babbling?”

  The oracle smiled. “There is truth in it. Only truth.”

  When they reached the top of the stairs, there was a wooden door where last time there had been none. Pushing on it cautiously, Folkvar opened it up onto a vast mountain range. Stepping out, they saw the sun setting and silhouetted against the darkening sky was Calimorden.

  “There!” Clare pointed. “We have to get there.”

  “The human kingdom,” Folkvar groaned. “I cannot go there.”

  “Remember my promise?” Clare begged. “I won’t let them throw you out or harm you. They will not deny the request of an earthling.”

  “Oooh, now you’re a powerful Earth girl!” the oracle snickered. “Too much here, not enough there.”

  Clare groaned angrily and walked away from the group to get a better look at the castle. It was so far away, but she could see where the rebuilding was taking place. At least that meant someone was alive.

  “You should go back,” the oracle called from Galis’ belt. Clare faced him. “Your friends will be sick with worry. See how the sun sets?”

  Her heart caught in her throat and then sank as she realized there was a time difference. When she came to this world, it was mid-morning in hers and new night here. She would have missed skating and everyone would be frantic she had not been home.

  “Fortunately for you, I can send you back,” the oracle said with a mischievous smile. “And you need to go back.”

  Clare was going to protest. This world needed her more. She had made incredible friends and allies here! This place was feeling more like home than her own bed. She couldn’t leave since the other world felt so alien.

  “You must,” it said, reading her thoughts on her face. “You are here to save your world so you must go back.” The oracle’s voice had dropped back to its serious tone.

  “But I do not want to leave them,” she begged, speaking of Galis, Folkvar, and the star. “What will happen to them in the time I am gone? I have been away from here for just as many days as I have been trapped there.” She wanted to add in that she was deathly afraid for Prince Gwen and her little elf. She hoped he, above all else, was all right.

  “As it should be,” the star whispered in her soothing voice. “You are an earthling. You must live there. This place will consume you. Maybe even corrupt you like it does to us.”

  “Umbra’s work is mysterious,” the oracle finished. “You must not become tainted here. But if two earthlings were to come here, the bond to earth would be stronger and perhaps then you could stay longer. With three, you can even make your own gate between the worlds! Think of that! But this is your task. Only you can decide what is best.”

  Tears welled up in Clare’s eyes. She did not want to leave. Not again. What if she came back and one of them had died waiting for her to come and solve the mysteries?

  “But I don’t know how to come back!” she cried.

  “Choose to,” the oracle said. “What, you think you’re some kind of Chosen One? Nah, you came here, you chose this task.”

  “And you’ve already done that,” the star said. “You came back. You’ll find a way.” She smiled shyly. “You can always follow a star. Do what is in your heart. It is the best star of all.”

  Galis stepped forward and took her hand. He placed his bone necklace in her palm. It had tiny, polished critter ribs on it like little gems.

  “I know you’ll come back,” he said. “We are strong and we will wait.”

  “But,” Clare started again.

  The word was hardly out of her mouth when she felt an invisible push slam her in the chest. She flew backward over the mountain’s edge and plummeted down screaming.

  She landed hard in what could only be discerned by the reeking smell as a large dumpster. She sat up and hauled herself out. Her back was bruised and she realized her pack, with her new sword poking out the top, was there. She looked around and realized she had landed in the dumpster behind the mall. The clock on the mall’s billboard told her it was almost three in the afternoon on the very day she had left.

  “You said you could put me back,” she said aloud, thinking of the annoying oracle. “You meant it. I didn’t lose any time!”

  Suddenly, the concrete beneath her feet and the slightly smoggy air made her feel safer and more at home than the wilds of the other world ever had. She felt what the oracle had said. This was her home. This is where she belonged.

  She unclenched her fist and her heart fluttered to see that Galis’ rib necklace was still there.

  “But I’ll be back,” she promised, clasping the bones around her neck. “I’m part of you now.”

  She hefted her pack onto her back and started down the gum-spattered sidewalk to the roller rink and her earthling friends.

  Chapter 10

  Secrets Released

  She hadn’t been to the rink in years, but it was still exactly how she remembered it: the hideous back wall was still carpeted with an unholy orange, the little DJ loft was above it all where a man would yell down sarcastic and fun remarks to the skaters while mixing only pop culture’s favorite melodies with pulsing down beats.

  Like most skating rinks, it felt dirty and crowded, but she didn’t care. It had been years since she put aside work and chores to come out with her friends. She realized as she scanned the rink that years was a long time for a teenager to put off fun.

  She walked in past the tiny junk food café and around near the four arcade cabinets that stood strategically outside the girl’s bathroom. Scanning the locker area, she didn’t see anyone yet. It was still early and she figured no one would show up until later. She didn’t mind the time alone though.

  After putting her stuff in a locker, she sat down to put on her skates. Next to her, a girl and her boyfriend were just finishing stretching out and talking about skating competitions. Clare wondered what kind of competition they were in until they got out on the rink. She half expected them to be hard-core skater kids, but when they got out on the floor, the girl glided elegantly across the white ground. The boy went after her and they flew together perfectly across the rink like it was glass.

  Clare quickly finished tying her skates and went to the rail to watch them. The DJ switched the music over to one of Clare’s favorite new age artists to compliment the dancers. They soared toward each other and clasped hands, turning backwards to skate without looking where
they were going. With a crescendo in the music, they looked into each other’s eyes and smiled knowingly. With a deft and controlled movement, the boy twirled the girl out to his fingertips and bent over into a one-foot balanced pose. The girl mimicked his movement, going backwards, reaching out toward him.

  In a sudden change of momentum, the girl came back to the boy and leaped. Clare gasped at the height she had achieved then smiled as the boy caught her by the waist and lifted her up as if worshipping her. Clare sighed and rested her chin in her hands.

  “I gave up that dream a long time ago,” Jeff said coming up behind her suddenly. “I broke my ankle in a fall and didn’t keep off it like the doctor said. So I study molecules now.”

  “What?” Clare arched her eyebrow incredulously. “You used to be a skater-guy-health-nut type?”

  Jeff smiled and shrugged. “A little. Never with other people.I was always a little shy and didn’t play with others well. I was homeschooled until high school.”

  Jeff’s silence and creative mind had made him invaluable to Clare and Sun Age. What he used to be or how he was raised had had no effect on how much everyone had come to depend on him.

  “You know, Jeff, I don’t say it a lot, but I want you to know that I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me and Sun Age. We’d be nothing without you.”

  Taking a step out onto the rink, Jeff smiled gratefully then beckoned her to follow him out. The dancing couple had transitioned into simple laps so Clare followed him out. They did a few rounds before he spoke again.

  “I really like that necklace,” he said over the sounds of the rink. “From Lance?”